Laurenz Langer

Designation: Senior Researcher, Africa Centre for Evidence
Dr Laurenz Langer is a Senior Researcher at the University of Johannesburg’s Africa Centre for Evidence (ACE). Laurenz leads ACE’s work in supporting national government decision-makers to integrate evidence from research synthesis (e.g. evidence maps, systematic reviews, meta-analyses) in the formulation and design of public policies and programmes. He has supported the South African Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation for five years in its piloting and development of policy-relevant evidence maps as a method to inform decision-making in the public sector. Laurenz has conducted a range of systematic reviews and evidence maps, including reviews published by the Campbell Collaboration and the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence

Blogs by author

Why we need qualitative evidence in systematic reviews: the case of the Gender SR

We recently completed a new systematic review, ‘Strengthening women’s empowerment and gender equality in fragile contexts towards peaceful and inclusive societies’. This systematic review, also called the Gender SR, examined 14 gender-specific and gender-transformative interventions focusing on women’s empowerment in fragile contexts.

Addressing the need for timely and reliable evidence in the time of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic brings the importance of high-quality, timely and relevant evidence to the fore. Governments all over the world justify radical policies to control and manage the pandemic with reference to evidence.

Is it possible to combine capacity development with a rapid synthesis response to an evidence request?

Two of the most important and long standing challenges for evidence synthesis in international development are: 1) The need to provide timely (eg. rapid) responses to demands for evidence to inform decisions; 2) Developing capacity to do high-quality, policy-relevant syntheses, especially in L&MICs. At present these challenges are typically addressed in isolation.